As known in the state of the art, the control valves designed to control the supply of water to different hydraulic devices, such as spouts, faucets and the like, usually have a tubular body provided with the conventional liquid inlet and outlet openings, with an auxiliary opening, and also with an inner sealing seat which is operatively associated with a sealing means to be displaced, by a driving mechanism, between closing and opening positions of the control valve.
There are well known the driving mechanisms which are designed and constructed so as to allow different degrees for opening the sealing seat of the control valve and for closing it, by rotating the assembly formed by the driving rod and the wheel, upon by actuation of the user. These driving mechanisms, which are actuated by rotation of the wheel, require the user to use his hands, not only for opening, but also for closing the control valve.
There are also known in the art the driving mechanisms which are designed and constructed for allowing the manual opening of the control valve, in which the user simply displaces, axially and in a one-way sense, the driving rod, whereas the closing of the control valve is achieved in an automatic and timed way, usually by action of the hydraulic pressures reigning upstream and downstream the sealing seat. A known construction for a driving mechanism presenting an automatic and timed closure is disclosed in Brazilian document PI1100876-8.
Although both solutions, in which the driving mechanism is closed manually or in an automatic and timed manner, present advantages depending on the most adequate use condition for each operation, they have the drawback of not allowing, in a single construction, obtaining the two operational conditions to be selectively effected by the user, at his choice and according to each operation desired for the control valve and/or hydraulic device.
Aiming at allowing for the operational flexibility mentioned above, it was proposed the constructive solution disclosed and claimed in The Brazilian patent application PI0805329-4A2. This prior document proposes a driving mechanism presenting two movements capable of providing the control valve with a first operational condition in which it closes automatically, and a second operational condition in which the user defines the opening and closing times of the control valve and/or hydraulic device.
As it may be seen in the constructive solution proposed in document PI0805329-4, the timed (automatic) closing operational condition requires the user to exert an axial force over the driving rod, in order to displace the sealing element from the closed position to an opening position, in which the return of the sealing element, jointly with the driving rod, to the closed control valve position, is automatically achieved by the hydraulic and mechanical forces acting in the interior of the control valve. On the other hand, the manual closing operational condition made by the use requires him to rotatively and axially displace the driving rod, in which the rotative displacement is effected in a single sense, so as to lock the driving rod in a position in which it will be only displaced, by action of the user, through a new rotation imparted to the driving rod in the opposite sense, or by pressing it axially and then rotating it in an opposite sense, until axially unlocking the driving rod in order to be returned to the control valve closing position, by being axially displaced in a sense opposite to that which provides the opening of the control valve.
Thus, the PI0805329-4 solution requires an axial displacement of the driving rod in opposite senses, in order to provide the automatic closing operational condition and a compulsory rotational displacement of the driving rod for locking the control valve in the open operational condition, in which the user closes it manually.
Said prior solution requires two distinct movements of the driving rod for obtaining the two operational conditions—automatic closing and manual closing. The axial displacement of the driving rod is necessary and mandatory to obtain the automatic and timed closing operational condition.
The above prior art solution, although allowing, with a single construction, achieving the two closing operational conditions, has the drawback of not allowing the user to control, by means of a conventional manual actuation on the driving rod which usually ends in an activation button, the time of the automatic closing of the control valve. In this prior construction, the actuation of the user is to impart a downward axial displacement of the activation button, from the control valve closed position directly to the final position of the axial displacement travel, in order to obtain the automatic closing. In this type of operation, it is usually impracticable to control the axial travel for opening the control valve, making the closing time to be actually constant. The operation in the automatic closing condition is conducted with the same maximum displacement of the driving rod. It is not possible for the user to control, in an easy and ergonomic way, the different closing times of the control valve for each operation of the associated hydraulic device.
Another limitation of the prior art solution discussed above is the fact of not allowing the user, upon assembly of the control valve, or even after it is assembled, in order to carry out, by means of an extremely simple operation, the reduction of the automatic closing time to a value he judges more adequate, based on the maximum closing time of the project.